


How far to Kirkwall from Skyhold?

by Jaggarte



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 05:33:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8736757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaggarte/pseuds/Jaggarte
Summary: Varric has gone to Kirkwall to run it and the Inquisition is missing him very much. Some more than others though it's hard to admit.





	

Iron Bull looked into his jug of ale forlornly and gave a big sigh.

“How long does it take to go to Kirkwall?”

Cassandra moaned and put her head in her hands.

Josephine smiled fondly at the giant Qunari, “I think it would take quite a while, hence why it is taking so long for him to come back.”

Iron Bull huffed and took a big swig of his ale, “I don't know what you're talking about.”

Josie patted the giant arm next to her, “It's ok, we are all missing Varric Tethras. I remember when we first met, he was so charming.”

“Oh Josie,” Cassandra butted in, “Everyone get's fooled by his charm.”

“Well yes,” Josephine continued, “I thought so too at first but when he started to have an avid interest in how my family's shipping business was doing and when he came to my desk with different import and export avenues I hadn't thought of before I knew that he genuinely cared.” Josephine sighed, “I miss that man, I wish he didn't have to go and run that damned city.”

“That's how he gets you.” Cassandra was clearly starting to feel the effects of the alcohol in her system as she slurred some of her words. “He reels you in and laughs all the while. Ugh. That laugh. More wine!”

“I think you've had a bit too much wine, Cassandra,” Blackwall intervened the bartender with a slight shake of his head, “We all miss the dwarf.”  
The big, burly man sighed, “I don't really remember the first time I met him but I do remember the first time I took him seriously.”

Cassandra looked despondently at her glass and turned her head to the side to avoid anyone's gaze but didn't interrupt the Grey Warden.

“He and I were on a mission with the Inquisitor, looking for some bloody crafting supplies because there's never enough damn material to work with when I was thrown to the ground by a huge grizzly bear.”

The noise of the chatter between friends died down as they all started to listen to Blackwall's story.

“Laying there in shock on the ground, I knew I was going to die. Growling and raising up on it's hind legs the bear was about to tear me in two. Suddenly, Varric springs out of nowhere, right in front of me, startling the bear into a quick withdrawal for a moment. Using the time, Varric spins to me and hefts me up with one hand, who knew the bastard was so strong? He says, “Come on, Hero, you expect me to do this all by myself?” “What about the Inquisitor!?” I screamed at him, I thought for sure he had made the wrong choice and our Inquisitor would be dead by another bear's paws. He merely cocked his head over in her direction and said, “She's fine. Worry about yourself.” It was true too, right as I watched she did a huge backwards somersault all while shooting and hitting the bears in front of her. It was there that I realised that Varric understood the finer points of battle and could grasp the identities of all fighters.”  
Blackwall stopped talking to raise his tankard in admiration, “That man saved my life, such as it is.”

Iron Bull winked at Cassandra, who was listening raptly to the Grey Warden's tale and raised his jug to Blackwall's tankard, the tankard quite small in comparison, “I loved that dwarf the first time he called me Tiny. Tiny! HA!”

Sera giggled as she re-filled the Qunari's cup and her own after they'd toasted, “I knew that he was the good type soon as he helped with the Crotchety Cranks.”

“Sera,” Dorian chuckled as he shook his head, “You shouldn't call the cook and her helper 'Crotchety Cranks'”.

“Why not?”

“Varric would say 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'.”

“I ain't gonna bite them. No' an animal.”

“Well they might hear you and poison your dinner.”

“You mean it's not already poisoned? What's their excuse then?”

Cullen couldn't keep in his laughter and Dorian joined him, slapping each others backs with tears rolling down their cheeks.

“I remember first coming here and meeting everyone,” Cole was staring up at the ceiling as he started reminiscing about the missing dwarf, “but not meeting them properly in person like I have to do now and noticing that everyone was a bit brighter when Varric was around.”

Cole looked down at his friends around the bar and smiled. “That was when I knew I liked Varric and that I could listen to him. He calls me Kid. I like it. I feel new when he does that.”

Cassandra sunk lower into her seat.

“He calls me Buttercup,” yelled out Sera, “I don't know why. 'Spose it was to do with all the butter I left out for the bartender to slip on.”

The bartender frowned at her from behind the bar wiping the glass in his hands harder than necessary.

“Said I was sorry!”

“Well I think I first came to like our resident dwarf when he came to me in the dead of night, asking for my help with one of the characters in his new book.” Dorian brushed his hair out of his eyes and smirked at Cassandra who looked away, blushing brightly, “Apparently this new person was a Tevinter mage and he wanted to get the phrases just right. We stayed up all night talking and laughing. It was so relaxing after being so hyped up from continual battle.”

Dorian took a drink from his cup.

“What about you, Cullen? Or should I call you, 'Curly'?”

“Cullen is fine, thank you.” The commander took a second to look bemusedly at the Seeker as she tried to sink below the table they were all sitting at.

“I first started appreciating our dwarf when he brought in Hawke.”

Iron Bull nodded in agreement.

“Yes, I think it was a fine display of sacrifice from Varric to bring Hawke to us.”

“What on earth are you talking about, Cullen?” Cassandra rose from her seat to glare at the former Templar.  
“It would have been so much easier to give up Hawke sooner. Lives could have been saved, history could have been kinder to us. It's because of him holding out on us for so long that gave us so much misery!”

Cullen shook his head.

“I don't agree with you, Cassandra. Varric's best friend in the entire world is Hawke, he would never give up Hawke to someone whose intentions were never made clear. In fact,” Cullen raised his eyebrows at the furious Seeker in front of him, “that's what makes him such a good person.”

Cassandra slammed her fist down on the table and walked off growling to herself all the while.

Josephine watched her friend walk off angrily, smiled apologetically at her companions and walked swiftly after the Seeker.  
“Cassandra wait for me.”

“Ugh,” Cassandra stopped abruptly, “I don't understand what people see in him!”

Josephine stopped and put her hand on her friend's shoulder.  
“You do though, don't you Cassandra.”

The Seeker shook her head.

“Don't deny it. It pains you because you locked him up and questioned him and put him away and tied him to you for such a long time that having him around has become second nature to you.”

Cassandra brushed her friend's hand away and stood stock still.

“You know that if he was captured by somebody else he would never tell them where you are because you are his friend and he cares about you and you care about him and you can't wrap your head around it.”

“You don't know what it is you are talking about Josephine.”

Cassandra started walking away from the ambassador and climbed the stairs to her room.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cassandra laid in her bed and hugged a pillow to her stomach. 

She could hear the rest of her companions laughing and reminiscing about the dwarf that had edged his way into everyone's hearts and it pained her that it caused her such discomfort. Why couldn't she just hate him? But there was no real reason to hate the man. He had fooled her to keep his friend safe and he had laughed at her when she gotten things wrong. But he'd given her his newest book that hadn't even been to the publisher and he'd never told anyone about it.

There was also the time when she had saved him from a well aimed spell from Corypheus, putting her body in the way to shield the dwarf. As she fell, pain blazing up her side, she turned to see if he was hurt when the confusion and surprise in his eyes gave her pause. She got up quickly from the ground after a moment of being stunned and had carried the marks from the spell for weeks but she'd never really given herself time to think about her actions. Why had she put herself in danger for him? Did she really care about him? Was it a reflex action? But if it was? Would she do it for other people that she did not care about? Maybe? Was that good enough? No.

Cassandra moaned and yelled into the pillow at her chest.

She wondered how long it took to come back from Kirkwall.


End file.
